Planning begins for ring around Peoria

In five years, people may know exactly where the proposed four-lane eastern bypass ring road will go. And in about 27 years, they may be able to drive on it.

Kevin Sampier

In five years, people may know exactly where the proposed four-lane eastern bypass ring road will go. And in about 27 years, they may be able to drive on it.

The Illinois Department of Transportation held a kickoff meeting Tuesday and invited the public to learn about the $720 million road that would encircle the Greater Peoria area by connecting Interstate 474 near Morton to Illinois Route 6 near Mossville.

Eric Therkildsen, IDOT program development engineer, told the Journal Star it may be 10 years before any dirt is turned for a ground breaking. And it could be 27 years from now before the entire project is completed.

Hundreds of people filled the Countryside Banquet Facility to standing-room only to hear about the project from IDOT officials.

"Everyone in this room is going to help us in this study," he said.

Therkildsen stressed the importance of community input and said when the bypass was discussed about a decade ago, that wasn't done and the project faced heavy opposition.

Now, IDOT plans to create a community advisory group and receive feedback and suggestions from residents throughout the project.

"We want to get everybody involved early in the process," he said, "rather than us dictating to the stakeholders what's going on."

The construction costs of the ring road are estimated at about $600 million, while design and engineering costs are $120 million, he said.

Currently, IDOT has $3 million on hand for the project and Therkildsen said the rest will have to be obtained through state, federal and IDOT funds.

Therkildsen said the current phase of the project is finding where the ring road's "corridor" will be located.

The corridor is a wide swath of land, wide enough for several possible paths for the future road. A final corridor could be selected by 2010. Once the corridor is chosen, the "alignment" phase will identify exactly where the roadway will be located inside the corridor, which could take three years.

Attendees filled out comment cards and signed up to join the advisory group. Some are very much against the road and said they still have hard feelings from the last time the project was brought up.

"I'm not for it," said Renee Grebner, who said she's worried her 150 acres of farmland between Germantown Hills and Spring Bay would be divided by the project.

Others said it's time to move on and support the road because of its potential economic benefits.

"I think they need to close up the ring," said Peoria resident Paula Green. "I think it would be good for the whole community. It sounds like IDOT is trying to get people involved early."

Therkildsen said the concept for the ring road was offered up by area chambers of commerce that have identified a ring road as a major priority they would like to see completed.

One issue frequently discussed among attendees was the city of Washington's previous opposition to the road.

Washington City Administrator Bob Morris said that issue pre-dates him but said the project currently has the city's full support.

"From the city's standpoint, we're glad to see this back on the front burner," Morris said. "We're looking forward to participating in the project."

Once the advisory group is formed, it will meet several times between now and the next public meetings in February and August of 2009. A fourth public meeting is scheduled for March 2010.

Kevin Sampier can be reached at (309) 346-5300 or ksampier@pjstar.com.